tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/doctoral-programs-20894/articlesDoctoral programs – The Conversation2018-04-29T19:49:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/955772018-04-29T19:49:11Z2018-04-29T19:49:11ZIf the master’s degree is the new bachelor’s, is the doctorate now the new master’s?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216734/original/file-20180428-135848-ew3mlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;rect=52%2C0%2C5044%2C3511&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As working lives last longer, more Americans are seeking Ph.Ds later in life.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/older-male-student-university-smiling-106313240?src=4k1Ech_4qWHhlP-ucoNyFQ-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The US Census Bureau can tell us a thing or two about how the American and European populations are aging – the proportion of those older than 50 <a href="https://census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p95-16-1.pdf">continues to outpace</a> that of those younger than 50. Indeed, the number of US residents 65 and over is projected to double by 2060. AARP president JoAnn Jenkins has suggested that we need to “disrupt aging” – to rethink what getting older means and to dispel the many received ideas we have.</p>
<h2>50-plus shades of greying…</h2>
<p>With rising percentage of Americans living longer than previous generations, their <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-americans-are-working-and-working-more-than-they-used-to/">working lives</a> are longer as well. Their <a href="https://www.prb.org/aging-unitedstates-fact-sheet/">educational attainment</a> has also risen, as they pick up a new diploma or two later in life.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, a number of reports on the US education sector have revealed a stagnation or even decline in the <a href="https://www.gmac.com/market-intelligence-and-research/research-library/admissions-and-application-trends/keeping_pace_insights_and_strategies_for_the_future_of_us_part_time_mba_programs.aspx">number of MBA programs</a>, with several renowned schools discontinuing full-time two-year programs. This is in part due to a crisis of <a href="https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/5270bffa-c68e-44f0-ac08-693485083747/the-college-affordability-crisis-in-america.pdf">college affordability</a> in the United States. With increased mobility, a rising number of American students, young and old, are considering countries with <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/featured/6-countries-with-free-college-for-americans/">lower tuition rates</a>. For those interested in obtaining an MBA, this has led to a <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/business/21730682-part-american-market-may-be-decline-globally-qualification-continues">thriving sector</a> in other parts of the world, as well as alternatives such as the MIM (Master’s in International Management) and <a href="https://www.professionalsciencemasters.org/">Professional Science Master’s</a>.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p95-16-1.pdf">2015 US Census</a>, 32% of US residents hold at least a bachelor’s degree, 9% a master’s degree, and 2% a doctorate. This increase in people boosting their educational qualifications has resulted in a kind of “credential one-upsmanship”. If the master’s degree has been called the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/education/edlife/edl-24masters-t.html">“new bachelor’s”</a>, then a mere bachelor’s degree may be devolving into the equivalent of a high-school diploma.</p>
<h2>Doctor who?</h2>
<p>With the rise in the number of Americans over 60 remaining in the workforce and those holding master’s degrees, it seems safe to say that the demand for doctoral qualifications for <a href="https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/your-money/taking-on-the-phd-later-in-life.html">older students</a> will increase as well. This trend will in turn put new pressures on universities to design part-time alternatives for professionals, rather than the traditional Ph.D. programs that require 4 to 6 years of full-time commitment. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2013.842968?src=recsys&amp;journalCode=cshe20">Country case studies</a> show the need to design professional doctorates to meet this growing demand.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/Independentresearch/2016/Provision,of,professional,doctorates/Professional_doctorates_CRAC.pdf">2016 study</a> in the United Kingdom indicated that professional doctoral programs are on the rise in fields like engineering, psychology, education, medicine and business administration. As the program director of a Doctor’s of Business Administration (DBA) in France’s <a href="https://en.grenoble-em.com/node/3815">Grenoble Ecole de Management</a>, I have witnessed first-hand the growing demand from the United States, with an increasing number of highly qualified candidates from a range of backgrounds.</p>
<p>The DBA is part-time program that trains executives and professionals in research methodology for the social and management sciences, and enables those seeking new challenges the possibility of reaching the upper echelons of learning while continuing to meet professional and familial obligations. Many of our candidates and graduates evoke an existential “quest for meaning” after years of corporate service, or the desire for an “Act 2” that would allow them to move toward a career in academia or consulting. For them, the doctorate can be the ultimate item on life’s “bucket list”, where professional identity and a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14427591.2008.9686622">personal narrative</a> converge.</p>
<h2>Practiced in theory vs praxis</h2>
<p>However, many programs can push professional doctoral candidates toward the same playing field as PhDs looking for tenure-track positions in the ever-competitive academic job market. Instead of moving the professional doctoral candidates towards topics rooted in practice and leveraging their life experience, academic supervisors and employers – alongside peer-reviewed publications, conferences, and hiring committees – push them toward making theoretical contributions.</p>
<p>As indicated in a recent article by Valérie Sabatier, Mark Smith and Michel Albouy, also with the Grenoble Ecole de Management, such hide-bound approaches can result in less innovative, more conservative <a href="https://theconversation.com/doctoral-diplomas-a-european-tradition-waiting-for-a-transformation-81302">thesis topics and subsequent publications</a>. Yet <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/how-to-build-a-better-phd-1.18905?WT.mc_id=SFB_NNEWS_1508_RHBox">PhD graduate programs have been critiqued</a> for flooding the market with ill-prepared, inexperienced candidates.</p>
<p>Navigating the currents flowing between theory and practice while overseeing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-types-of-phd-supervisor-relationships-which-is-yours-52967">tricky relationship between supervisors and students</a> means that doctoral programs, whether targeted at younger or older students, have their work cut out for them.</p>
<h2>Brain drain – from the United States to Europe?</h2>
<p>As supply-side economics would have it, the number of doctoral candidates is growing because the number of Ph.D. programs is on the rise. It follows that the more doctoral candidates there are on the market, the more aspiring researchers will flock toward good programs.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/business-administration-doctorate-degree">online-only DBA programs</a> are promoted as being more cost- and time-effective, it seems neither possible nor desirable to train individuals 100% remotely for a career in which rhetorical skill, debate and critique, and peer review are required on a daily basis. While I’m far from a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/04/will-2018-be-the-year-of-the-neo-luddite">neo-luddite</a>, it seems that replacing the physical presence of the analogue with the remoteness of the digital is next to impossible when it comes to the development of high-quality, original ideas. What is required to foster innovative research proposals is good old-fashioned face-to-face discussion and debate of one’s ideas with peers and mentors.</p>
<p>It seems that many Americans interested in late-in-life doctoral degrees agree, judging from growing demand for professional programs such as <a href="https://en.grenoble-em.com/doctorate-business-administration-dba">Grenoble’s DBA</a>, where 100% of the teaching is face-to-face and where students are trained to iteratively “socialize” their research. Add to that the fact that European programs are <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/student/study-abroad/free-university-education-courses-study-abroad-brexit-erasmus-students-germany-copenhagen-france-a7457576.html#gallery">dramatically more affordable</a> than many US options, we expect that a steady stream of highly qualified Americans looking for their “Act 2” will continue to grace our hallways in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95577/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Mielly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With more Americans living and working longer, many professionals are continuing their educations later in life -- with a doctorate.Michelle Mielly, Associate Professor in People, Organizations, Society, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/838562017-10-11T19:09:53Z2017-10-11T19:09:53ZUnderstanding youth entrepreneurship in light of ecosystems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185530/original/file-20170911-1368-18e4rop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Student entrepreneurs coach other students as part of an entrepreneurial awareness campaign at the University of Lorraine.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Lorraine</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Entrepreneurship has often been viewed through the image of the entrepreneur, the sole hero of modern times. However, it would be short-sighted to limit oneself to this dimension in order to <a href="https://theconversation.com/comprendre-lentrepreneuriat-a-laune-de-lagir-entrepreneurial-76958">understand entrepreneurship</a> and particularly youth entrepreneurship. In fact, over the past two decades, and notably thanks to the work of <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Granovetter">Mark Granovetter</a>, it has become feasible to consider the importance of social networks and, more broadly, that of ecosystems. </p>
<p>By ecosystem, we refer to all people (the entrepreneur and his or her clients, suppliers, financiers, partners, etc.), all organisations (banks, accountants, legal experts, etc.), their production (legal status, support methods, prototypes, etc.) and their interactions (links between people, organisations and their production). If we take the notion of ecosystems as a framework for understanding youth entrepreneurship, it would be possible to adopt the typology we have implemented through the study of 22 countries between <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=8jq6tVQmXJIC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;hl=fr&amp;source=gbs_ge_summary_r&amp;cad=0#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">2005</a> and <a href="https://www.decitre.fr/livres/universite-et-entrepreneuriat-9782864809647.html">2008</a> around the “three Is”: Initialisation, Institutionalisation and Integration.</p>
<p>The first phase, that of <strong>initialisation</strong>, is where the idea of ecosystem is very localised through individual measures taken by pioneers in the field of youth entrepreneurship. The second phase, institutionalisation, corresponds to the willingness to go beyond the local level and individual measures here and there through a national program in the field of youth entrepreneurship. This is the case in France, namely in the framework of the successive <a href="http://www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/cid5757/la-formation-et-la-sensibilisation-a-l-entrepreneuriat.html"><em>PEE</em></a> and <a href="http://www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/cid79223/pepite-poles-etudiants-pour-innovation-transfert-entrepreneuriat.html">PEPITE</a> programs. </p>
<p>Through the <strong>institutionalisation</strong> phase, this mainly relates to the establishment of ecosystems conducive to the development of the youth entrepreneurial culture within universities in general, including schools of engineering and business. The third phase, integration, mainly refers to the outreach of the youth entrepreneurial culture to the whole society, beyond the scope of universities. These three phases reflect the evolution that France is experiencing in the field of youth entrepreneurship.</p>
<h2>Emerging local ecosystems for youth entrepreneurship: Initialisation</h2>
<p>Until recently, it was conventional to think and say that entrepreneurship is not intended for young people, and even less for students. One can probably summarise this societal attitude through the recurring question: “Why don’t students create companies?” Such questions have been present in both policy discourses and those of the business start-up agencies. In general, the stereotypical response can be defined as follows: Young people cannot create. To create, you must have work experience and money. Through this attitude, young people and even students are excluded from at the societal, educational and political levels. In other words, this means: “Finish your studies, then set up your own business.”</p>
<p>In this context, the answer to the previous question is “Why would students create companies when there is no ecosystem to assist their on doing so?” A typology was developed in 2005 makes it possible to compare the countries’ commitment to entrepreneurship. For the initialisation phase in France, it reflects first of all localised initiatives, particularly in schools of engineering (École des Mines d'Alès), management (HEC Paris) and some universities through the <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-entreprendre-et-innover-2011-3-page-55.html"><em>Maison de l'Entreprenariat</em> program</a> in universities (notably in Grenoble, Nantes and Lille). But in general, there was no generalised university ecosystem encouraging young people to start businesses.</p>
<h2>Creating favourable ecosystems in universities: institutionalisation</h2>
<p>The PEPITE and PEE programs mentioned above have make significant changes. In fact, their starting point is primarily the creation of generalised entrepreneurship within universities. Since 2011, France has entered the so-called institutionalisation phase. This implies above all a political and financial commitment at various levels (state-wide, regional, academic, etc.) for the development of entrepreneurship. More specifically, it is less about setting up a new business than about establishing an entrepreneurial culture. In other words, there is no development at the level of setting up new businesses if there is no development of the entrepreneurial culture. In this perspective, entrepreneurship becomes a full-fledged professionalisation path for young people alongside competence and wage-earning. The university is evolving to cover such notion in its mission.</p>
<p>Today it is common to see within universities, engineering schools and business schools project leaders whose task is to raise awareness and provide guidance with regard to entrepreneurship. In France, people have managed to overcome the idea that students should finish their studies, and only then set up a own business. The thinking now is: “Take advantage of your studies to dabble in entrepreneurship”. The newly established Student-Entrepreneur status has complemented and reinforced the existing mechanisms. This status can be similar to that of a high-level athlete or a working student, the challenge being to recognise that the student, alongside his enrolment in university, is involved in other initiatives.</p>
<p>As discussed by <a href="https://theconversation.com/etudiant-entrepreneur-un-statut-davenir-65008">J.-P. Boissin</a>, the number of students who can be classified as student-entrepreneurs keeps increasing, and in 2017 exceeds 3,000. At the national level between 2014 and 2016, the number of student-entrepreneurs increased 45%. Over the same period, they increased 57% at the University of Lorraine. Should we conclude that students are now more likely to be entrepreneurs than their predecessors? This would be premature. Instead, it would be better to consider a two-fold process: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect">Hawthorne Effect</a> and the “pheromone” effect. The importance of the university ecosystem for the development of entrepreneurship is no longer to be verified, particularly through Bourdieu’s notion of share capital which is widely applicable in the case of student entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>Regarding the Hawthorne effect, it could be argued that because we are interested in students’ entrepreneurship, their motivation in this area will increase. As a matter of fact, by creating new spaces of expression, we see students commit themselves to develop knowledge and skills that are varied and even new with regard to their specialisations. </p>
<p>Then there’s the “pheromone” effect: The importance of the traces left by the first students-entrepreneurs should be indeed noted. The process required a kind of “pathfinders” who tested the system in order to allow others, the followers, to get involved in the space that is offered to them. There are certainly students-entrepreneurs who would have set up new businesses even without the student-entrepreneur status and those who would have tried it because this status provides them with a certain security especially with regard to their professional future. These “followers” represent the success of this institutionalisation phase. This “pheromone” effect is highly noticeable when we take for instance the case of the students-entrepreneurs in Lorraine. With fewer than 10 students-entrepreneurs at the time the PeeL (<em>Pôle entrepreneuriat étudiant de Lorraine</em>) program was first introduced, five years later, the number increased to nearly 200 supported students-entrepreneurs.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ni-6CvsYiYI?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Internationality seminar.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From a university ecosystem to a societal ecosystem: integration</h2>
<p>The third phase of youth entrepreneurship is in progress. This is the integration phase whose aim is to move beyond the development of a favourable ecosystem within the university. What is the benefit of this development? It is twofold.</p>
<p>First, the university as a whole is only one piece of the puzzle. It is therefore a matter of building a much broader support ecosystem. To promote youth entrepreneurship, it is necessary to develop state and local policies in line with the characteristics of youth entrepreneurship so that their academic programs are more secure. The same applies to funding, collaboration efforts and support. All too often these actions focus on the start-up phase. Paradoxically, student-entrepreneurs do not all project themselves into setting up new businesses but above all into their project. The objective is to collectively examine how to help student-entrepreneurs to develop their projects in the first place. The main focus shifts toward the systemic interest in establishing the relationship between the entrepreneur, his or her project and the associated ecosystem, and on the progress of such relationship. It is particularly this triptych that should be reinforced.</p>
<p>In practice, this is reflected by introducing scholarships, such as for example, in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Region">Greater East Region</a>, the “Youth Challenge” scholarships. The benefit is not only financial; instead such scholarships bring to light two highly important notions with young entrepreneurs: self-confidence and self-esteem. The integration phase must lead to considering youth entrepreneurship as a professionalisation path in its own right and well beyond university. Thus, those supporting youth entrepreneurship can be parents, relatives, instructors, politicians, media, etc. without this being viewed as an uncommon way of professionalisation. One should be indeed able to grasp entrepreneurship as a stage like all others in the professional life.</p>
<p>The second benefit is going beyond the university. Even if many young people are in universities and schools, others do not go through these systems. While entrepreneurship is already present as in the craft trades, two-tier youth entrepreneurship should be avoided. Currently, the PEPITE program does not reach young people outside the university sector. The stakes are high and cannot be addressed if we remain restricted to the university. Consideration should be given to the mutual enrichment of all youth, whatever their sector. Moreover, if the PEPITE program is to be considered a success, it should be taken advantage of in order to increase entrepreneurship awareness-raising, training and support. For example, it should be noted that there is a focus on supporting entrepreneurship through a multitude of stakeholders, and whose effectiveness should be discussed. There are also few tools for raising awareness among the general population.</p>
<p>In light of these elements, new questions emerge concerning the challenges to be encountered in the future, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How can we ensure the sustainability of young entrepreneurs? Since it is not enough to just set up a business, it is also necessary to be able to sustain it over time;</p></li>
<li><p>How can the desire to set up a business be oriented towards assuming control of an existing business? The number of firms is significant in France, and if it’s essential to establish a program dedicated to setting up new businesses, it’s also important to establish one on “repreneurship” – company takeover, as a particular form of entrepreneurship;</p></li>
<li><p>How can we increase entrepreneurial accompaniment and implement policies adapted to youth entrepreneurship? Being aware of youth entrepreneurship leads to the sophistication of tools, approaches and funding methods in relation to the uniqueness of this particular audience.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p><em>Christophe Schmitt is a Professor of Universities in Entrepreneurship and Vice-President at the University of Lorraine (Institute of Business Administration of Metz and European Center for Research in Financial Economy and Business Administration). He holds the _Entreprendre</em> Chair and is the head of the PeeL program (<em>Pôle entrepreneuriat étudiant de Lorraine</em>). He is also an Associate Professor at the Louvain School of Management (Belgium) and at the Higher Business School of Fribourg (Switzerland). His articles and books are for the most part supported by the concept of value creation and the construction of knowledge for action, as well as by the development of entrepreneurial practices. He received the EFMD-FNEGE award for his work published by the University of Quebec Press, «L’Agir entrepreneurial : repenser l’action des entrepreneurs.»_</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christophe Schmitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How networks and ecosystems support youth entrepreneurship initiatives.Christophe Schmitt, Vice-Président en charge de l'Entrepreneuriat et de l'Incubation et Professeur des Universités en entrepreneuriat, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/838162017-09-13T21:28:39Z2017-09-13T21:28:39ZWhen researchers get 'involved elsewhere'<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185453/original/file-20170911-1352-r8501p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eduhk_gradsch/35886125522/in/album-72157686448522106/">Graduate School EdUHK/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Since 2010, the graduate school of the <a href="https://www.eduhk.hk/gradsch/">Education University of Hong Kong</a> (EduHK, ranked second in Asia) has organised a summer school program. In 2017, four researchers from the University of Lorraine were invited to participate in this international event.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The story begins with Dominique Macaire’s meeting Laura Déléant, Lisa Jeanson and Jérémy Filet as members of the organising committee of the <a href="https://jijc2017.event.univ-lorraine.fr/?forward-action=index&amp;forward-controller=index&amp;lang=en">Early Career Researchers International Conference</a>. Professor Macaire, who started the exchanges between the two universities, offered the PhD candidates the opportunity to co-construct a workshop for masters- and doctoral-level students.</p>
<p><strong>Step 1: Welcoming the Hong Kong delegation</strong>: The team spent two days working with <a href="http://factuel.univ-lorraine.fr/node/6528">twelve PhD candidates from EduHK</a> and it was a culture shock. The presentation conventions of Hong Kong were far removed from those of France, but the delegation was won over by the team and its practices.</p>
<p><strong>Step 2: “Made in France”</strong>: A few months later, the four Lorraine researchers flew around the world and took their work to a new level. Their task was to integrate their French-style workshop into the <a href="https://www.eduhk.hk/gradsch/iprrfss2017/">International Postgraduate Roundtable and Research Forum cum Summer School 2017</a>, on the theme of “Whole-person development: Student as academic leader”.</p>
<p>Dominique Macaire first introduced the general principles for the oral presentation. Her lecture compared different academic cultures in the world. PhD candidates with different disciplinary and cultural backgrounds then participated in the workshop created by Lisa Jeanson and Laura Déléant, PhD candidates in ergonomics, and Jérémy Filet, a PhD candidate in 18th Century British history.</p>
<h2>Presenting research at an international level</h2>
<p>An oral presentation is not just about organising a scientific presentation, something not even the audience always realises. Developing a <a href="https://theconversation.com/chacun-sa-route-chacun-son-personal-branding-un-incontournable-pour-les-etudiants-79719">personal brand</a> can make presentations more convincing, especially at an international level, where codes can be different.</p>
<p>First, researchers need to focus on oral presentation skills. Voice, gesture and posture are important – a talk is not just about content. Second, creating an original visual medium also contributes to success. This is where design, information and ergonomics come in: an effective medium does not distract the audience, it helps them and the presenter. Moreover, the uniqueness of this workshop stems from the fact that those in the audience can apply it directly.</p>
<p>The “3 Minute Thesis” activity was used as an example of how to improve one’s presentation skills. Participants were invited to present their work to the audience. Jiyun Bae (Japan) and Michael Dannhauer (Germany) joined in and presented their research topic in this way. The session went on with some brainstorming to stimulate exchanges between participants. Everyone received personalised feedback, which was helpful to all the PhD candidates.</p>
<p>Nothing was determined in advance, and these interactions made up the workshop’s content. The tutors also learned from the students’ feedback and were able to improve their own methods. Hence, the proposal of the French delegation fit perfectly with the theme of EduHK’s Summer School.</p>
<h2>The EduHK Summer School</h2>
<p>From July 3 to 7, 2017, the event welcomed 12 000 participants. Among them were 300 experienced researchers and 600 speakers from 14 different countries and three continents (Asia, Europe and North America). Six guest speakers from different cultural and disciplinary backgrounds tackled the issues of leadership, personal development and research competencies.</p>
<p>600 talks of 10 minutes each were given in five parallel sessions. This panel was moderated by the organising committee, entirely composed of PhD candidates from universities all over the world.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.Flickr.com/photos/152933962@N04/sets/72157686448522106/">EduHK Summer School</a> also hosted a roundtable discussion on the theme “Whole-person development: Building students as academic leaders”, with two members from each delegation. After the discussion, Professor Lo, head of the graduate school, suggested creating an international group of early-career researchers of all disciplines.</p>
<h2>Integrating PhD candidates within a complex system</h2>
<p>The scientific world is no longer aligned with binary logic – local or global. PhD candidates can no longer write a thesis from their offices. Instead, they need to develop other abilities and carefully manage their time.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/un-an-apres-quoi-de-neuf-docteur-la-valorisation-du-doctorat-un-levier-pour-lavenir-55785">commercialization of research</a> is much more than an oral or written presentation. Participating in events like this one is useful for individual PhD candidates as well as for various scientific communities.</p>
<p>In addition, researchers should improve their cooperation skills within interdisciplinary and intercultural teams. Events such as this help early-career researchers to extend their academic network and prepare the basis for future collaborations. Therefore, PhD candidates can adapt to this complex system by sharing their experiences and knowledge within the international academic community.</p>
<p>By placing PhD candidates at the centre of international events, graduate schools can give them opportunities to acquire organisation skills, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/quand-je-serai-grand-je-voudrais-etre-chercheur-75640">assume new responsibilities</a>. Henceforth borderless, these <a href="https://theconversation.com/le-doctorat-une-tradition-a-laube-de-sa-potentielle-transformation-77637">new and complex cooperative systems</a> provide excellent opportunities for the most audacious to get involved elsewhere…</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a complex system, academics and doctoral students must take part in collaborative efforts to succeed in their projects. Feedback after a seminar in Hong Kong.Lisa Jeanson, Doctorante en Ergonomie Cognitive, Groupe PSA/laboratoire PErSEUs, Université de LorraineDominique Macaire, Professeure des universités à l'école supérieure du professorat et de l'éducation, Université de LorraineJérémy Filet, Doctorant en civilisation Britannique du XVIIIème siècle, Université de LorraineLaura Déléant, Doctorante en Ergonomie Cognitive, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/813022017-08-29T19:49:31Z2017-08-29T19:49:31ZDoctoral diplomas: a European tradition waiting for a transformation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178870/original/file-20170719-13593-1e6g8yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young doctoral candidate on the stage of the competition &quot;My Thesis in 180 Seconds&quot; at Polytechnique.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/117994717@N06/16034390315/in/photolist-qqUrBr-q7Hhp2-q7dLMG-q7euES-q7kTJ4-q7dM3S-m19BYT-q7AdAJ-mfjmvy-qmv8kN-kdiBGh-kXDGXt-mvZfV7-kdjpWS-q7dLRu-paomCw-DHQhPL-nNrcLp-qoYJJx-kdiBzU-psavno-nDouUW-qodhJM-kTQYCP-mDKZCx-DuTAq2-kdiBwN-qoMezB-q7JLiK-r8CMvT-qp9JTV-rgNhHq-DRZmaw-kdfJEn-qJzV2e-o2RYYk-kdhSMQ-kdgeuV-kdjpUN-qoYK5H-kdhMBP-9rUdW4-sr6JuH-kdhMM8-kdhjcF-kdfKbH-ryhJuC-kdhMK4-kdjpRS-q9u9Av">Ecole polytechnique Université Paris-Saclay/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The doctorate is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious diplomas and is part of the educational tradition in Europe. In management sciences, the situation is more paradoxical. The discipline is applied and principally vocational – in companies and organisations – yet doctorates in management are today mainly intended for the <a href="https://www.vitae.ac.uk/doing-research/are-you-thinking-of-doing-a-phd/what-do-doctoral-graduates-do#Data">academic world</a>. </p>
<p>Steeped in a long tradition, the doctorate seems to have had some difficulty evolving in Europe and elsewhere. Despite the internationalisation of educational systems, cross-national collaborations and a worldwide academic labour market, the impact of the doctoral contributions for organisations remain questionable. Does the innovation and European harmonisation that we’ve seen in other programmes stop when we get to doctoral level?</p>
<h2>A doctorate is a doctorate, right? No</h2>
<p>An illustration with the case of France demonstrates the national complexities of awarding doctorates, the right to supervise and the functioning of the academic labour market. The French doctorate goes back to the 13th century with the creation of the University of Paris at the Sorbonne. Although it has undergone some important reforms over time, the awarding of the doctorate remains a monopoly of public universities. </p>
<p>A major 1980s reform was supposed to align French practices with those of the Anglo-Saxon world and the Ph.D. However, this only went so far. To conduct research and supervise others within French universities, a <em>habilitation</em> (HDR, <em>habilitations de dergier le recherche</em>) is still required. The HDR is therefore the highest grade in France, whereas in Anglo-Saxon countries it is the Ph.D. A similar system exists in Germany, where the habilitation remains an entry ticket for professors. Furthermore, the most prestigious way to become a full professor in economics and management remains an elite national contest. A similar system also exists in Italy.</p>
<h2>Private schools and the doctorate: a sensitive subject</h2>
<p>Paradoxically, elite management education has become the preserve of private business schools yet these institutions are rarely allowed to award Doctorates themselves. The French system, with the range of <em>grandes écoles</em>, again illustrates the point. Traditionally, the <em>grandes écoles</em> were established to train leaders for industry, politics and commerce rather than carry out research. However, internationalisation of the sector, pressure to obtain accreditations (<a href="http://www.aacsb.edu/">AACSB</a>, <a href="https://www.mbaworld.com/">AMBA</a>, <a href="http://www.efmd.org/accreditation-main/equis">EQUIS</a>) and a search by researchers for academic legitimacy have created common pressures. Thus <em>grandes écoles</em> began to do research, publish and create their own doctoral programs. Thus, these schools have created doctoral programs: Ph.D. and DBA (<a href="https://www.mbaworld.com/accreditation/dba-guide">doctorate in business administration</a>). These programs are an innovation and a response to the public monopoly for awarding doctorates.</p>
<h2>Pressures to innovate</h2>
<p>A recent review of trends in doctoral education identified four drivers for the expansion and innovation in the sector:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>There has been a rapid expansion of business-school education and bachelors and masters programs in management requiring qualified staff to teach. </p></li>
<li><p>International accreditations require teachers to have relevant qualifications and to be active researchers – requiring doctoral-level training. </p></li>
<li><p>Firms have been increasing their demands for consultants and trainers with a legitimacy in their subject matter. </p></li>
<li><p>Doctoral programs provide business schools with a lever to boost research output and recruit and retain their professors in the international market. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Beyond expanding the sector, these drivers are also promoting other forms of innovation.</p>
<h2>Innovating in the thesis format: the publication game</h2>
<p>Although universities and <em>grandes écoles</em> are a place of scientific innovation and contribute to the creation of new knowledge in all sectors, there remains a certain conservatism in thesis format. The <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/looks-good-on-paper/416988.article">article-by-article thesis</a> permits doctoral students to bring together a number of articles published or in the process of being published in scientific journals. </p>
<p>An article-based approach allows doctoral students to enter the job market for academic posts with a doctorate and a CV containing relevant publications – an advantage compared to the student following the traditional thesis. Further, this approach allows doctoral students to learn how to write scientific articles, understand the peer-review system and prime a scientific-production pipeline.</p>
<p>With an article-based thesis, an introductory chapter, a literature review and a general methodology accompanies two, three or four articles. This collection allows the examiners to evaluate the approach and the scientific contribution of the doctoral students’ work. A concluding chapter reviews the main theoretical contributions, possibly contributions to practice, and the limits of the research.</p>
<p>However, for aspiring scholars a non-traditional thesis format may prove to be a risky because its recognition is not assured. Some universities in Europe remain resistant to awarding and recognising article-based doctorates, for example in France and the UK. On the other hand, in the Netherlands the new format has become a standard.</p>
<h2>Contribution to theory or practice?</h2>
<p>The difficulty of innovating in doctoral studies is accentuated by the lack of a shared vision at the international level. An ongoing <a href="http://equal.network/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/161110-EQUAL_Guidelines_Doctoral.pdf">European project</a> aimed at creating a common vision of the doctorate has yet to identify a single framework. Furthermore, this review has strengthened the hierarchy between the “academic doctorate” and the “professional doctorate”. The differences are largely due to the essentially academic character of the research work and their audiences. Ph.D candidates tend to have limited professional experience, study full-time and aim for an academic career. On the other hand, professional doctorates – such as the DBA – are usually <a href="https://theconversation.com/il-faut-plus-de-formations-doctorales-a-orientation-professionnelle-56861">high-level executives</a> and study part-time. DBA graduates tend to remain in business or adopt a mixed career of teaching and practice.</p>
<p>With the exception of DBA programs, links with companies are not generally well developed in doctoral studies. Some countries have developed programs where <a href="https://theconversation.com/doctorat-cifre-un-pont-entre-la-recherche-et-le-monde-economique-64406">companies</a> host doctoral students – for example, the <a href="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/collaboration/postgraduate-collaboration/">collaborative studentships</a> in the UK or the <a href="http://www.anrt.asso.fr/fr/espace_cifre/accueil.jsp#.WQx80NykLIU">CIFRE programme</a> in France. However, these programs remain marginal in management sciences. Management research may rely on the use of cross-company databases, which does not necessarily require a permanent immersion in a firm. Engagement with companies and managers remains an underdeveloped area.</p>
<p>Again, academic conservativism is at play here, creating pressures for theoretical rather than practice contributions. Whatever the format, a doctoral thesis must have a scientific contribution but not necessarily a practical contribution. The doctoral student may be encouraged to value their research with the wider public and organisations. Yet theses are not evaluated on their impact upon organisations or society. Hence a remoteness between the concerns of researchers and those of companies.</p>
<h2>What innovations for the future?</h2>
<p>In a world of profound upheaval, the demands of business and society will continue to exert strong pressure on the academic world to innovate at all levels, including doctoral training. The need for management science training and the shortage of researchers are powerful drivers for changing the practices in universities and business schools.</p>
<p>In addition, the development of international research collaborations between academic institutions is also a promoter of innovation. The action of the <a href="http://www.aacsb.edu/-/media/aacsb/publications/research-reports/the-promise-of-business-doctoral-education.ashx?la=en">accreditation bodies</a> is a factor for innovation and change for management schools. Internationalisation makes it possible to question national models and to break resistance to change and to innovation. Finally, innovations are required in order to integrate the needs of society for relevant knowledge and allow the full impact of research for all stakeholders.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite an international context in transformation, the doctorate seems to have difficulty evolving in Europe. What are experiments have been tried and what are the avenues of innovation?Valérie Sabatier, Associate professor of Strategy, Director of Doctoral Programs, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Mark Smith, Dean of Faculty & Professor of Human Resource Management, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Michel Albouy, Professeur senior de finance, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/765972017-05-11T14:46:24Z2017-05-11T14:46:24ZWhen I grow up, I want to be a researcher…<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168978/original/file-20170511-32618-121i8zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the molecular-chemistry laboratory of the Ecole Polytechnique at the Université Paris-Saclay.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/117994717@N06/16276695722/in/photolist-qNjjyS-RJf5zq-SydeGo-SKK7PN-SydeMU-kdfJux-pghoEs-SydeJs-qhnsqh-kdgcRK-qi4GAe-S7aSMt-qpiVVY-q4hbzf-RRxdv7-RRxdJJ-RRxdNb-r43uzP-rmdhWN-kdgvpc-v2FyEj-kdiBGh-m19BYT-RRxdrj-q4dAL6-kdjpUN-r3SNj2-saTpbX-TkGfyT-TkGfo2-moun8B-rRBt2D-pQYXn2-q4hDxm-rdWrjw-kdhMKp-t7M5qf-kdhMBP-kXDGXt-q4cWB2-qkvStn-rgNhHq-r8CMvT-qdNA1m-kdfLnv-puzvgM-kdhPP5-qKjy9g-kdhTSA-kdhTqo">Ecole polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>“So what’s your PhD topic again?"…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nowadays, this is the question most commonly asked to early-career researchers, and the answer is becoming more and more complex. While an interdisciplinary approach is favoured in English-speaking world, the French academic system often keeps doctoral students within methodological limits.</p>
<p>So why maintain such an inflexible, discipline-focused system? How can young researchers make their fields and the scientific foundation on which the build their work their own?</p>
<h2>Breaking down boundaries: the end of labels</h2>
<p>A basic trend: The longstanding boundaries between classic disciplines are breaking down or, at least, being blurred, and many academics feel disoriented. One explanation for this radical shift is probably the development of new media. While "traditionalists” try to hold on to their “specialties”, open-minded researchers use new technologies to break down the walls between disciplines. Indeed, since the 1980s, the English-speaking research world has witnessed the birth of new fields of multidisciplinary research. A model from which France and other countries have begun to draw inspiration in the last decade.</p>
<p>For 21st-century PhD students – the first generation of “digital natives” – the web has been a simple fact for their entire lives. They tend to refuse labels, and unlike their predecessors, early career researchers do not want to choose between specialties, methodologies, schools of thought or countries. They want to embrace them all.</p>
<p>And why would they have to choose, anyway? Thanks to the Internet they have access to almost unlimited knowledge, through MOOCs, TED talks, online publications… In a nutshell, open sources. Many doctoral candidates have graduated with two or three masters and followed several transdisciplinary pathways already. They are thus entitled to diversify their experience, and they wish to keep this privilege, and even cultivate it, when writing their thesis.</p>
<h2>“Y generation” researchers</h2>
<p>The training of the current generation of researchers – strewn with pitfalls and migrations – is not so “unusual” anymore. In a sense, their professional lives will be that way as well. For “Y generation” researchers, a certain volatility becomes necessary, if not essential, to fully comprehend new nomadic objects of research. Why not dissect a Latin text in the same way we examine DNA? Could a philosopher learn something from an examination of African tax systems?</p>
<p>For the 2016 <a href="http://jijc2016.event.univ-lorraine.fr/jijc_accueil.php">Early Career Researchers conference</a> at the University of Lorraine, PhD students discussed their take on interdisciplinarity and its potential benefits. The 2017 edition takes place on June 16 this year returns with a new theme: <a href="https://jijc2017.event.univ-lorraine.fr/?forward-action=index&amp;forward-controller=index&amp;lang=e">“Which questions for what research? The Humanities at the crossroads of disciplines”</a>.</p>
<h2>Asking the right questions</h2>
<p>In 2017 we need to discover what kinds of questions are being asked in research. What are the purposes of research? Which questions best correspond to which types of research? What is our take on fundamental research? What is the split between social-science research, applied research, or interventionist research? With the multiplication of ground-breaking concepts, should research fields be restructured?</p>
<p>How particular disciplines are mastered is clearly defined by French institutions, such as the National Counsel of Universities or the competitive exams for secondary-school teaching in the French national education system. Therefore, we should question the legitimisation of new fields of research within a given academic institutional system. As such, cultural studies have often been strongly criticised in France, whereas their popularity within the English-speaking world is easily understandable considering their interdisciplinary nature.</p>
<p>Certain disciplines taught at universities also have their equivalent in the secondary-school system, and many research departments limit their recruitment of lecturers to candidates who have passed the secondary-school exam. Notwithstanding the many differences between teaching in secondary school and conducting research at university, should academics in France continue this historical mode of recruitment? Can research fields be as easily delimited as the disciplinary knowledge one needs to teach in secondary schools? This issue is all the more pressing as new technologies bolster the constant evolution of research questions. Can they enable the Y generation of researchers to free themselves from the ancient methods of “mastering” disciplines and go beyond the more “traditional” fields of research?</p>
<h2>Towards enhanced research</h2>
<p>While fields of research are increasingly changing, should they all intersect and perfectly match taught disciplines, or could they be much more enriched and flexible? A good example is gender studies, which combines history, psychology, sociology and even medicine. Similarly, shouldn’t we consider research fields within the context and needs of society? It is only logical to question the axiological positioning of the researcher with regard to political militancy or societal debates, especially when their research deals with current affairs.</p>
<p>Moreover, an increasing number of companies and other organisations are now proposing collaborations and partnerships with researchers. Industrial agreements for training through research (for example, the French <a href="http://www.anrt.asso.fr/fr/espace_cifre/accueil.jsp">CIFRE program</a>) establish a partnership between a partner – most often a firm – a research department, and a PhD student. What methodologies can be applied in such collaborations? How do we reconcile the researcher’s methods and the partners’ expectations? We also need to question the uses and the limits such cooperative efforts. Concisely put: how do we distinguish between disciplines? Should we talk about a disciplinary area or should we replace it with the definition of a research domain? Is the creation of inter- and/or trans-disciplinary research teams always necessary? Are they really beneficial?</p>
<p>Facing the multiplication of such questions, early-career researchers need to develop innovative research practices and find ways to address the position of today’s researchers.</p>
<h2>Novel practices, new questions</h2>
<p>For its 2017 edition, the organisers of the Early Career Researchers conference invite PhD students of all <strong>disciplinary backgrounds</strong> to reflect on the following axes:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>What epistemological and deontological approaches should researchers adopt today?</p></li>
<li><p>What are the implications of the human factors behind research?</p></li>
<li><p>Which methodolog(y/ies) for what research: where are the boundaries between disciplines?</p></li>
<li><p>Inter/transdisciplinarity and the contributions of research and new technologies to society: how can different perspectives be reconciled?</p></li>
<li><p>How does research interact with its foundations?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Far from being an isolated initiative, those considerations are beginning to be tackled at international congresses. These include the 2017 PhD colloquium of the <a href="http://congres2017.saesfrance.org/texte-de-cadrage-en/">French Society for the Study of English (SAES)</a>, to be held June 1-3 in Reims, and <a href="https://studies.hypotheses.org/">“Designations of Disciplines and Their Content: The Paradigm of Studies”</a>, which took place at Paris 13–USPC in January 2017.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>It is with this in mind that the early-career researcher conference will be held June 16, 2017, in Metz, France. For more information, visit the <a href="https://jijc2017.event.univ-lorraine.fr/?forward-action=index&amp;forward-controller=index&amp;lang=en">conference website</a>.</em></p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163936/original/image-20170404-5702-10f21uu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163936/original/image-20170404-5702-10f21uu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163936/original/image-20170404-5702-10f21uu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=136&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163936/original/image-20170404-5702-10f21uu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=136&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163936/original/image-20170404-5702-10f21uu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=136&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163936/original/image-20170404-5702-10f21uu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=171&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163936/original/image-20170404-5702-10f21uu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=171&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163936/original/image-20170404-5702-10f21uu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=171&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jérémy Filet is a member of the steering comitee of the Early Career Researchers International Conference 2017 (JIJC2017). He has been awarded a Doctoral contract to write his PhD thesis in the Research Lab &quot;Interdisciplinarity in English Studies&quot; (IDEA), and he teaches English at the University of Lorraine (France).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Jeanson est membre du comité de pilotage de la Journée Internationale des Jeunes Chercheurs 2017 (JIJC2017). Elle effectue une thèse en Cifre chez le Groupe PSA au sein du laboratoire PErSEUs de l&#39;Université de Lorraine spécialisé dans l&#39;expérience utilisateur. </span></em></p>How do we and should we work with the first generation "digital native" doctoral researchers?Jérémy Filet, Doctorant en civilisation Britannique du XVIIIème siècle, Université de LorraineLisa Jeanson, Doctorante en Ergonomie Cognitive, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/481412015-09-28T08:43:36Z2015-09-28T08:43:36ZGraduate education is a mess. Shouldn't universities fix it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96268/original/image-20150925-17694-1endp65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What&#39;s the future?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pamhule/5752742624/in/photolist-9LmiXE-pLEgt9-5KFQwp-82BswR-deTMjG-4kbWeV-PrNFu-ujqyxk-5yEcRK-7vFcRJ-kNfdM-ufvnsz-7pUvWd-5KT2T7-nrhMtK-9YUF7a-b355Lz-ei2jH-9JdxjP-wHeKNR-o4ZR6h-7pUw4o-9oRyg5-b355TH-4LfFbq-87NcHX-chFG2h-aJv6Fv-88xR5Z-bSKdMr-kHrkrx-6Zgc8E-7pQB4R-mR5xVW-eAajXU-7PbYgm-8gDbzJ-mz3HXv-7pQBiD-dV5jc-9M3JK9-pg9nXw-6wWpoJ-5Z5r9i-eVHg43-5KT2Qy-5KNN1P-5KT2RQ-e7LRr6-8gDbAb">Jens Schott Knudsen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colleges and universities in the United States remain <a href="http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings">among the most prestigious</a> institutions of higher education in the world. But, concerned about rising costs and the job prospects of young men and women with undergraduate degrees, Americans these days tend to view education as more of a business proposition. </p>
<p>As a result, conversations on the broader value of a liberal arts degree have been overshadowed. Furthermore, an awareness of the shortcomings of graduate education, especially in PhD programs, and its implications for higher education as well as for American society in general have been entirely absent in these conversations.</p>
<p>Graduate programs are, of course, essential to colleges and universities: they produce today’s teaching assistants and tomorrow’s instructors and researchers. But, although <a href="http://www.cgsnet.org/graduate-enrollment-and-degrees-2004-2014">admission and enrollment in some doctoral programs</a> are increasing (health sciences, engineering, education, social and behavioral sciences, biological and agricultural sciences), the dropout rate across all program is about 50%.</p>
<h2>“Disorder” in graduate schools</h2>
<p>The fact is that doctoral students today are <a href="https://mlaresearch.commons.mla.org/author/dlaurence/">spending more and more time</a> getting their degrees (nearly 30% of PhDs take at least seven years to finish; the median for humanists is nine years) and, in the process, accumulating debt. At the same time, tenure-track jobs are getting fewer and fewer. </p>
<p>In 1975, tenure-track and tenured professors were responsible for a majority of the classroom teaching in colleges and universities. By 2005, adjuncts and other “temps” had become a “fixture” in higher education with “regular” faculty doing only one-third of the teaching. That figure has now <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674728981">dropped to below 25%, and is going down even further</a>.</p>
<p>Graduate schools, however, have been slow to address such problematic prospects of PhDs. And this “institutional disorder on a grand scale,” is what <a href="http://legacy.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/english/faculty/fulltime_faculty/lenny_cassuto_28525.asp">Leonard Cassuto</a>, a professor of English at Fordham University, calls attention to in his recent book, <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674728981">The Graduate School Mess</a>.</p>
<h2>Why shouldn’t universities fix the problem?</h2>
<p>Cassuto reminds us that universities produce both the supply and the demand of the academic job market. So, they can – and should – assume greater responsibility for achieving better outcomes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">What should universities do to prepare graduate students for jobs?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jin_aili/5824851212/in/photolist-9SHTkb-pRY5m-6BNfMX-euMbG-9SHSMq-9SEZWR-9SF1Q8-9SF1M4-9SF1Rt-9SF1C2-7q6Wip-7q6Wq6-7q6W2T-7q6VZK-7q6W5D-7qaRPm-8a9yNv-7qaRRA-7rtqK9-csTPZY-4gQ1p-7rpuek-7rpunH-8auEms-8a9MBt-8a9LKH-8a9sAn-8aa18g-8acXgW-8acSKL-8a9Xg4-8aa52K-8ad5pd-8acZbA-8aeUn3-8a9vdK-8adhFS-8ada5U-8acYhb-8acRTJ-8a9tp8-fyRuf-fyRto-fqtei-fyRrp-fyRsG-fyRqq-fyRse-fyRpg-fqt5t">Alison</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They have an obligation, as Cassuto argues, to change the curriculum and dissertation requirements to accommodate graduate students who will not actively seek – or get – positions at research universities. </p>
<p>Research institutions, whose faculty sometimes assume that their PhD candidates “would rather repair dishwashers” than take a job at a community college, he writes, should instead teach their students how to teach. </p>
<p>Although not easy in an age of specialization, faculty should try to provide instruction in other practical, transferable skills relevant to, for example, careers in the public humanities, public relations, advertising or marketing. </p>
<p>They should also be willing to offer alternative careers workshops as well as supply prospective doctoral students with information about the academic and nonacademic first-job placements of recent degree recipients.</p>
<h2>Why change will be hard</h2>
<p>From my own perspective of over a quarter of a century as a professor and university administrator, Cassuto’s recommendations make a lot of sense. I believe that most of them deserve to be implemented right away. </p>
<p>However, they will not solve the problem of supply and demand within institutions of higher education. Addressing this problem head-on will require major structural changes in colleges and universities that without doubt will be highly controversial.</p>
<p>Here are a couple of examples that demonstrate how high the stakes are:</p>
<p>Doctoral programs in many disciplines at many institutions may be forced to accept fewer students. Some doctoral programs may be shuttered. Scaling back, however, will mean that someone else will have to do the work graduate students now do as teaching assistants and research assistants.</p>
<p>Reducing the number of graduate students at a time in which universities are financially strapped might result in greater teaching loads for tenure and tenure-track professors or result in the hiring of more adjunct faculty. It could also mean offering more online courses to undergraduates. None of these options is likely to sit well with faculty.</p>
<p>To make room for the next generation of teachers and scholars, institutions may also try to find ways to induce more senior faculty to retire (<a href="http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/28017/title/With-End-Of-Mandatory-Retirement--U-S--Schools-Face-New-Challenges/">mandatory retirement ended</a> in 1994 in the wake of concerns about age discrimination). </p>
<p>At Cornell, where I teach, for example, well over 100 professors over the age of 70 remain on the payroll. Proposals to limit the number of years an individual can retain tenure have not gotten traction at Cornell or elsewhere.</p>
<h2>Putting academics first</h2>
<p>Committed to innovation in their own work and in their own fields, professors (and, for that matter, senior administrators) are often wedded to the status quo in their own institutions. </p>
<p>The status quo, however, is not a viable option. </p>
<p>If American colleges and universities are to remain preeminent, faculty and administrators must embrace change, perhaps even radical change. As Cassuto claims, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the current practice of graduate teaching essentially retails expired passports. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Colleges and universities must work collaboratively to formulate approaches to admitting and training PhDs and to hiring adjunct professors, lecturers, and tenured and tenure-track faculty. Of course, their approaches must be financially responsible and appropriate to 21st-century realities, but it is important that they be based primarily on academic considerations. </p>
<p>The task is all the more urgent because of the budget cuts in public institutions, the prospect of diminished support for research by federal agencies and an uncertain economy. </p>
<p>All this, as Cassuto indicates, will almost certainly make the next 10 years more challenging than the last three decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenn Altschuler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students at American universities are spending more and more years on completing their PhDs, only to find there are fewer and fewer tenure-track jobs.Glenn Altschuler, Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies and Dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions , Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.